[font="'comic sans ms', cursive;"]"Oh, good. I was hoping to not have to deal with not having a left arm for the next forever and a day. It's not like arms aren't one of the limbs that let you do a whole ton more with than without, after all. Ah, we're here. I'll most likely be seeing you again, sir! Til then, tata!" [/font]

[font="'comic sans ms', cursive;"]And he went into the med-bay, deciding that he really was delusional at this point and really shouldn't do this ever again.[/font]

[font="'comic sans ms', cursive;"][font="arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"][font="'comic sans ms', cursive;"]The question came from a doc-bot, and Blastcraft was happy to reply as he lay down on let himself drift off.[/font][/font][/font]

[font="'comic sans ms', cursive;"][font="arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"][font="'comic sans ms', cursive;"]"Just the usual things, doc. Ya know, cutting your own arm off to escape Dark Energon corruption, proceeding to ignore said wound for the next battle or two, and then finally deciding to come in and get it looked at. Stuff like that. Good night, doc.."[/font][/font][/font]

[font="'comic sans ms', cursive;"][font="arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"][font="'comic sans ms', cursive;"]And he let himself go into a form of sleep.[/font][/font][/font]

Good to know he has a sense of humor. Razous sat down and a medi-bot came to help patch up his wounds. He's completely tired after what happened. Too many bots and one hulking brute that almost pounded him to a sheet. Nothing that seems too out of hand I guess, if you're the only one that's going against him.

OOC: All right, as requested, I've taken over as GM. The RPG will still follow the same general style it's been in so far. I'm open to suggestions for improvement if anyone has any. Anyway, time to continue the plot.

The timeskip Zyke mentioned is about a day after all those who require medical treatment have recovered. At that time, no further missions have been assigned tot hat group. All ICs on the Slaughter are not after the timeskip until further notice. However, all other posts are unless otherwise stated.

Also, you guys can start trying to figure out which Megatron this is.

IC:

[color=#ff0000;]Optimus paced the pressurized room, having slight difficulty in moving. This did not gather much of his attention, for the true problem was on his mind, not his body. What was Megatron planning?[/color]

His sensors picked up energy fluctuations not unlike those he had seen a year ago. It had become commonplace now, but it always reminded him of Cybertron. Earth was home now, but Cybertron had been worth fighting for as well. Ironically, fighting for it was half of what had destroyed it.

The space bridge, formed without the use of pillars, was carrying them.

[color=#000000;]"Sir...what...are they doing?"[/color]

[color=#ff0000;]"If only I knew." He noticed the ship coming to an abrupt halt, the end of the jump. The hangar, oddly, began to depressurize, becoming even with the air pressure in the adjacent hallway. Optimus looked at the corners of the room, which were now glowing green. They flashed brightly, sending a shock through his head. He grunted audibly, too distracted by pain to notice that the others were doing the same. As the Children crumpled to the ground, they saw that the blast had shut off the lights in the hangar as well.[/color]

[color=#ff0000;]They had been struck by an electromagnetic pulse, and were now fading into immobile unconsciousness.[/color]

[color=#ff0000;]---[/color]

"Admiral, the Children are unconscious and ready for Stage Two." A Minion got up off of one knee and stood to face the glowing red eyes of Megatron.

[color=#696969;]"Excellent...bring the Prime to the surgical facility...dispose of the rest. As for Blackout, he will not be seeing a command position-or any position-for quite some time. The garbage compactor will be sufficient for him." While a jettison of the incompetent captain would be more painful for him, that posed the risk of his body being captured, and his mind probed. "Return his consciousness before the weekly compaction, by the way. Leave his motor functions locked." Blackout would now have the pleasure of waiting for hours to a fate he knew was coming, and could not stop.[/color]

"As you wish, sir." The Minion carried Blackout's stasis-locked body out of the room.

[color=#696969;]Sir. Such an ordinary manner of being addressed. But an ordinary manner was to be expected after he had been forced into servitude yet again. But he served no one--[/color]

[color=#696969;]A ringing noise blazed through his head, and Megatron yelled in pain. Served no one...but Unicron...and that was the unfortunate fact.[/color]

[color=#696969;]---[/color]

"All Children of Primus present, report to the war room."

The recording played several times, through the loudspeakers in the Child headquarters. The troops knew what to do, transforming and speeding off through the halls.

Smokescreen, after the failed attack on Cybertron -1, had spent most of his time hanging out with friends, and occasionally checking on Razous. The Prime was a good warrior, though circumstances made his skills seem less amazing back during the fight. Now was one such time where he was checking on Razous, but upon hearing the message, he transformed and left. "Looks like we have to go, sir."

[color=#2f4f4f;]As the Children of Primus gathered and took their seats, a tall, sturdy Child walked to the front of the room. His armor was once a strong shade of blue, though after the many battles he had gone through since being pulled to the Leviathan system, it was now a dull gray, with perhaps a hint of the former blue when the light shone well. He looked over the crowd. "Let us begin."[/color]

[color=#2f4f4f;]Behind him, a viewscreen showed a picture of a repurposed, formerly Decepticon ship orbiting Gigantion. "This is the Minion ship known as the Slaughter. Approximately seven Earth days ago, this ship had attacked Gigantion. Judging by the movements of the enemy troops, the invading forces intended to infuse Gigantion's central tower with Dark Energon. This operation failed because their numbers were insufficient."[/color]

[color=#2f4f4f;]The viewscreen changed to show Metroplex. "Now, the Minions are aware of the capabilities of the native lifeforms there, and of how many troops they should have sent. This suggests an ulterior motive, which I am sure they possessed."[/color]

[color=#2f4f4f;]The screen changed to show an Child of Primus with intricate features, a serious face, and red and blue armor. "Three hours into the battle, Optimus Prime took a boarding party onto the Slaughter with the intention of taking its key systems down from within to turn the tide of the orbital battle with the Child vessel Prima. He was captured and attempted to contact the Prima, but his comms were jammed all the way until the Slaughter left with its retreating forces."[/color]

[color=#2f4f4f;]Noting the mixed reactions of the crowd before him, he went on with little change in tone. "The ship made a jump through a Space Bridge, though we have tracked it to this location." The viewscreen changed to display a map of the system, and the general speaking to the crowd pointed at a location near Cybertron 2. "Thanks to the IFF tags of the boarding party, we can launch an assault to rescue them. While Cybertron 2 is a known major headquarters of the Minions, such an operation is justified by the fact that Optimus carries inside him a Matrix of Leadership."[/color]

[color=#2f4f4f;]The viewscreen changed to display several objects. Most were of similar shape, some were not, but all had a glowing blue center. "A Matrix of Leadership, when opened in Unicron's prescence, will unleash its power upon him and injure him severely, if not outright destroy him. While we are, at present, unaware of his location, we cannot afford to lose this valuable object, much less allow Minion possession of it. For this reason, a massive mobilization of our forces to Cybertron 2 must take place so that we can fight the Minions on equal footing and retrieve Optimus, along with his squad. All those who are not otherwise occupied must prepare for emergency deployment and combat. You have twenty-four Earth hours to do so. Dismissed."[/color]